Posse track

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The Spur Posse ( German  spur group ) was a community of male high school students in the Californian city of Lakewood , who compared their sexual conquests with one another using a point system.

history

The group's founder chose the name Spur Posse after their adored basketball player David Robinson , who had signed a contract with the San Antonio Spurs . US-wide attention attracted the Spur Posse , as on 18 March 1993, the Sheriff of Los Angeles County was arrested a number of members because of various sex crimes. The young people were accused of, among other things, rape, sexual coercion and sexual contact with a minor. All but one of the charges against members of the group were later dropped after the prosecution concluded that the girls involved were all minors but had consented to the sexual acts. Since a girl who was ten years old at the time of the attacks was also involved in the incident, this decision met with strong criticism from large parts of the public. The incident remained in the US public's consciousness because members of the Spur Posse were invited to various TV talk shows.

The American writer and journalist Joan Didion , who won the National Book Award , goes into greater detail on the incident in her book Where I Was From , published in 2003, and relates it to the young people's place of residence. Lakewood was a planned and developed town not far from Long Beach in the early 1950s. The houses were sold specifically to blue collar workers and lower-level employees of the local armaments-dependent aviation industry, the Long Beach naval base and ship docks. The houses that were sold in 1950 and cost between $ 8,000 and $ 10,000 at the time were usually affordable for these people only because their male relatives fought in World War II or the Korean War and therefore from the GI Bill of Rights benefited. Didion quotes an expert on the city who described Lakewood as the American dream come true, which would give a generation of industrial workers a form of property that members of their social class would not have had a generation before. The city remained largely isolated from the social developments in the other regions of Los Angeles until the 1990s. This only changed when, following cuts in the defense budget, industry in the region relocated its production facilities to other regions. Didion therefore sees the incidents in connection with the social decline that threatened young men in particular. She wrote:

“Lakewood exists because at a given time in a different economy it had seemed an efficient idea to provide population density for the mall and a labor pool for the Douglas plant [...] When times were good and there was money to spread around, these were the towns that proved Marx wrong, that managed to increase the proletariat and simultaneously, by calling it middle class, to co-opt. Such towns were organized around the sedative idealization of team sports, which were believed to develop "good citizens", and therefore tended to the idealization of adolescent males. During the good years [...] the preferred resident was in fact an adolscent or post-adolscent male, ideally one already married and mortgaged, in harness to the plant, a good worker, a steady consumer, a team player, some without who played ball, a good citizen. When towns like these came on hard times, it was the same adolescent males, only recently the community's most valued asset, who were most visibly left with nowhere to go. "

“Lakewood exists because at one time, under different economic conditions, it seemed wise to concentrate mall consumers and Douglas workers in one place. [...] When the times were good and there was enough money to be distributed, it was these cities that disproved Marx because they simultaneously succeeded in increasing the proletariat and engaging them by calling them the middle class. Such cities were organized around the drowsy idealization of team sports that supposedly produced "good citizens" and therefore tended to idealize adolescent young men. During the good years the young man, who was either still in his adolescence or had just outgrown it, was the desired inhabitant. Ideally already married and mortgaged, chained to a factory, a good worker and reliable consumer, a team player, a ball player , a good citizen. When cities like these were hit by tough economic times, it was the same adolescent man, barely the most valued resident in the community, who had few alternatives. "

Joan Didion found it characteristic that a large part of the residents of Lakewood with the argument Boys will be boys excused and the excitement caused by the incident was the fault of the media and a public that was not in Lakewood lived. The fact that some schools - but not Lakewood High School, which members of the Trail Posse attended - had distributed condoms in the past was used as an excuse for the incidents. " The schools, they hand out condoms and stuff like that, and if they hand out condoms, why don't they tell us that you can be arrested for it, " said one of the members of the Posse track when he was a guest on the US talk show The Home show was. The father of one of the young people, who had just been accused of indecent treatment of a 10-year-old, argued similarly in a TV interview: It's society that has these clinics, they have abortions, they don't even have to be their parents tell, the school even gives out condoms - what does that tell you? . By the time the Spur Posse was on the TV talk shows, a large number of them had graduated from high school by a year or two but had not found work or advanced training. Didion also points out that problems with underemployed youth in Lakewood had been evident since the summer of 1992. There had been violence in parks, break-ins and theft of bicycles. Dana Belman, who is believed to be the founder of the Spur Posse, had already been arrested for stealing weapons. This was followed by another arrest of Dana Belman and Christopher Russo, another member of the gang, for possession of stolen credit cards. Shortly before Christmas 1992, they were both arrested for check fraud.

Treatment of the incident in TV and film

  • An episode of the US TV series Law & Order is based on the incident
  • Some of the characters in the 1999 horror film Carrie 2 - The Vengeance is based on people who belonged to the Posse trail.

Web links

literature

Single receipts

  1. ^ Didion, Where I was from , p. 112
  2. ^ Didion, Where I was from , p. 108
  3. ^ Didion, Where I was from , p. 109
  4. ^ Didion, Where I was from , p. 109
  5. ↑ Didion, Where I was from . P. 115